government

It’s no secret that one of the biggest causes of our spiraling national debt has to do with the fact that we are fighting a bunch of wars overseas.

These wars are costing us mucho bucks.

The biggest problem with the wars, especially in Afghanistan, is that there is no clear finish line. World War II, we fought until the Germans, Japanese and their allies surrendered. They surrendered, we went home.

Not so much with our current wars. In fact, in Afghanistan, we are fighting next to the government, trying to put down rebel forces.

Sounds all nice and good, but the biggest problem that I’ve been able to see is that the Afghans are fine with letting us do the work. We can’t leave because to do so would put the country back in turmoil. The plan has been for us to turn operations over to the ‘locals’ but they can’t seem to pull it together enough to where we feel comfortable leaving.

But, with the way we’re running things and publicizing things, they have no incentive to.

If we’re willing to do all the dirty work, they have no incentive to step up. That is, until we leave.

We can’t leave simply by publishing a date that we’re leaving. Why not? Because we’ve tried that and they know we’re just bluffing.

The way we need to get out? Just go.

Sneak a few people out here and there.

Picture these conversations:

Week 1
Afghan commander: Hey, where did Bob and Joe go? *pointing to empty bunks*
US commander: Ah, well, their enlistments were up and they decided to go home.
Afghan commander: So, who’s their replacement?
US commander: Well, we have all this paperwork to fill out so it’ll be a while. Hey, what say we go do that roadside bomb detection training that we’ve been putting off?
Afghan commander: Ah, maybe tomorrow.

Week 2
Afghan commander: Still no replacements for Bob and Joe?
US commander: No, we’re still working on that.
Afghan commander: Hey, how come the US flags are taken off the barracks back there? There were like 20 people in there, right?
US commander: Yeah, about that….
Afghan commander: How’s 2pm for the roadside bomb detection training?
US commander: Sounds good.

This is the only way. The only one. Don’t get up in front of a podium and talk about how many troops you’re going to take out next year or the year after. Do it and talk about it later. That’s the only way that we will get these other countries to step up and take control of their own situation.

The only other alternative is this: Charge them. By the day. By troop. In barrels of oil. They want us to stay. They load oil on our freighters. They don’t load the oil? Our troops get on the freighter instead.

Are you sick of these wars already? Was it really any surprise when they started without a clear endgame that they’d be going on indefinitely?